Sovereign of the Three Realms

Ever since the cloaked person had appeared, Cao Jin had completely fallen under their control like a puppet on strings, without even the slightest power to resist. When his body finally stabilized, his long hair had been completely sheared off from its roots. A cold breeze brushed against the back of his scalp, endless hatred and shame welling up within him. Only, no matter how fiery his rage was, how violent his humiliation, he had no one to vent it on.

He knew that if he turned back again, the only thing waiting for him would be death. That mysterious cloaked man could kill him as easily as lifting a finger! It was laughable that Cao Jin had previously threatened to take his opponent down with him. In the sphere of his opponent’s control, he was like a sheep sent to the slaughterhouse. That person could slice off his head just as easily as he sliced off his hair. In that moment, Cao Jin was both ashamed and angry. But he could only flee for his life like a stray dog. This mysterious cloaked man was like a sudden nightmare who had not only foiled all his plans, but also completely shattered his misplaced sense of self-importance.

He’d originally had thought that as a peak sage realm cultivator, he could do as he wanted, rampage as he pleased in this decrepit Myriad Domain? Moreover, the Regal Pill Palace had never been known for its martial strength in the Myriad Domain. So as far as he understood, this Regal Pill Palace should have caved easily in his grasp like a ripe persimmon.

However, the first time he tried to squish one of the Myriad Domain’s “ripe persimmons”, he found himself mistaken, fatally mistaken. He had kicked directly at a steel plate instead. Not only had he not squashed a ripe persimmon, he had almost done himself in.

“Fortunately, this cloaked person shouldn’t be part of the Regal Pill Palace. If he had been part of the Palace, I probably wouldn’t have seen the sunlight again after entering the sect.” Cao Jin felt rather lucky, but also sensed that things were rather strange. “This Regal Pill Palace is just a no-name fourth rank sect of the Myriad Domain. Since when did they have such powerful backing? They have the support of an emperor realm expert?”

Cao Jin was a little dispirited. He had long since heard that there wasn’t a single emperor realm expert in the entire Myriad Domain, making them one of the weakest domains of the Divine Abyss Continent. Who’d have thought that the moment he’d arrived here, he’d run head-first into an emperor realm expert, what’s more, a cultivator who thoroughly overshadowed him!

Cao Jin might not have been afraid if they’d been just ordinary first level emperor realm. After all, he was still one of the ten great disciples; his treasures were countless, his potential unparalleled. But he hadn’t even been given the chance to show his cards in the face of this mysterious cloaked person. He’d been completely overpowered the moment his opponent had flared his emperor realm sphere.

Cao Jin believed that someone who was able to so effortlessly employ the sphere of influence was definitely not be at the first level emperor realm. The fact that shocked him most was that although he’d been unable to assess the parameters of that cloaked individual, that person’s unreadable eyes had been exceptionally bright—it was clear that his opponent was relatively young!

This revelation was most startling to him. A person who might be even younger than Cao Jin himself was able to control a sphere of influence. Just the thought of this was enough to raise goosebumps along Cao Jin’s body.

“I must have sensed wrongly. How could he be younger than me? I’ve seen so many geniuses from the Upper Eight Realms. There are definitely some juniors who are stronger than me, but not a lot. Which one of them can use the emperor realm domain as freely as this?” Cao Jin pondered on this matter for a long time but couldn’t come up with an answer.

Just as he prepared to leave, a person hurried directly over to him. When Cao Jin saw who it was, his expression shifted slightly, but he turned around to leave as he did not want to deal with that person.

“Sir Cao.” Unexpectedly, that person was actually the eleventh rank inspector from the Ninesuns Sky Sect, Weizi Kua. Upon seeing Cao Jin turn around to depart, he quickly called out. But, Weizi Kua soon realised why Cao Jin was avoiding him. Cao Jin’s dishevelled hair looked as though it had been cut off with some kind of sharp tool, making the usually elegant and graceful youth appear with an extremely wretched appearance. With Cao Jin’s pride, there was no way he was willing to show this sorry side of himself to Weizi Kua. In that instant, Weizi Kua was somewhat regretful that he had called out to Cao Jin.

“Sir Cao, what… what happened here?” Weizi Kua could only push through with his question when he saw Cao Jin’s gloomy expression.

“Inspector Wei, were you following me?!” Cao Jin wasn’t happy.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Weizi Kua hurriedly waved a hand. “I was just worried that Sir Cao might forget about our Sky Sect’s grand plans in your battlelust.”

“So in Inspector Wei’s eyes, Cao Jin is the someone who ignores what’s important?” Cao Jin’s belly was filled with anger.

Inspector Wei silently cursed his bad luck, very much regretting that he had stopped Cao Jin just now. Judging from the latter’s behavior now, he must have had a hard time at the Regal Pill Palace. But this was what Weizi Kua found difficult to understand. Amongst the 6 fourth rank sects of the Myriad Domain, the Regal Pill Palace was one of the weakest in terms of martial prowess. This was accepted as a general fact.

A century ago, the Regal Pill Palace had a doddering old palace head. He’d lived close to two thousand years and by virtue of his age and experience alone, he had just managed to rise to the ninth level sage realm. But ever since that old palace head had exhausted his years, the Regal Pill Palace had not possessed any more sky sage level experts. This was the information that had been reported to the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

With the plans the Ninesuns Sky Sect had for the Myriad Domain, it naturally knew the domain’s major sects like the back of its hand. Weizi Kua was no exception. Previously, he’d been concerned that Cao Jin was too hot-blooded. If he began a battle to the death with the Regal Pill Palace and massacred them, the other sects in the Myriad Domain would naturally be on their guard. If such a stifling enmity formed, the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s plans would be derailed. But never in his wildest dreams would Weizi Kua have imagined that Cao Jin would lose to the hands of the Regal Pill Palace. “Sir Cao, I have always deeply admired you. There shouldn’t be anyone who can threaten you in this Regal Pill Palace.”

With an icy laugh, Cao Jin replied, “If you want to know the whole story, why don’t you run over to the Regal Pill Palace and see for yourself?”

Weizi Kua smiled ruefully. A peak sage realm cultivator like you was beaten black and blue. I’m not even half as strong as you are, wouldn’t I just be looking to suffer if I went there myself? He knew that Cao Jin was in a bad mood so it would be difficult to question him any further.

Cao Jin didn’t seem to want to thoroughly offend Weizi Kua, so he gestured with a hand and dully replied, “There’s nothing to hide about it. The Regal Pill Palace is not worth considering, but this emperor realm expert suddenly appeared out of thin air. I was too careless and almost died at his hands.”

“An emperor realm expert?” Weizi Kua was dumbfounded. “There’s an emperor realm expert in the Regal Pill Palace?”

“Likely not part of the Regal Pill Palace. He only said that he shares a rather deep history with the Palace, but I don’t know if he was just making things up.”

A cautious expression crossed Weizi Kua’s face as he fell momentarily silent. There was too much information in Cao Jin’s words. If the Regal Pill Palace had an emperor realm expert, no matter if he was a member of the Palace or someone who backed the Palace, this was still an enormous unknown variable. The Ninesuns Sky Sect had never accounted for this factor in their plans. To suddenly involve an emperor realm expert… if this had not been discovered beforehand, this existence would’ve definitely fatally impacted their arrangements. It was lucky that Cao Jin had found this out early.

In a grave tone mixed with some amount of pandering, Weizi Kua said, “Sir Cao, although you did not manage to snatch those things this time, you’ve done a great service for our sect. This information that the Regal Pill Palace has the backing of an emperor realm expert heavily impacts our plans.”

Cao Jin was obviously disinterested in this kind of service. “I’ll count this as my own carelessness, but there’s nothing I can complain about losing at the hands of an emperor realm expert. Much less an extraordinary emperor realm expert who could actually effortlessly control the sphere of influence.”

“What?!” Weizi Kua’s expression changed again. “Effortlessly control the emperor realm domain?”

“That’s right. In addition, maybe I perceived wrongly but I felt like that person was even younger than me,” Cao Jin revealed this as well.

Weizi Kua’s expression took an even greater turn for the worse. “Younger than you? This kind of terrifying prodigy exists in the Upper Eight Realms that they can effortlessly control the sphere of influence?”

There were also a handful of emperor realm experts able to freely control the sphere within the Ninesuns Sky Sect. But among the younger generation, there wasn’t a single person capable of effortlessly doing so. After all, there were only a couple of young prodigies in the sect who were able to enter the emperor realm. There was an extremely limited number of existences in the Upper Eight Realms who was younger than Cao Jin and could effortlessly manipulate the sphere of influence. In that moment, both Weizi Kua and Cao Jin were feeling downcast, their minds full of questions.

…...

Above the Regal Pill Palace, Palace Head Dan Chi cupped his fists in salute. “Dan Chi represents the Regal Pill Palace to thank this kind friend’s act of justice...”

The cloaked man shook their gently. “There’s no need. The Ninesuns Sky Sect has set its sights on the Regal Pill Palace, so you will need to take care in the future.”

After he said this, the cloaked person’s shadow wavered before they vanished into thin air. This caused waves of astonishment to spread through the Regal Pill Palace. By the time Dan Chi thought of retaining them, the person had already disappeared without a trace.

“This senior is truly mysterious. I couldn’t even see how he left.” Dan Chi murmured to himself. Then, he turned around and said, “This time, our Regal Pill Palace’s misfortune has turned into a blessing thanks to this mysterious senior. Everyone should learn something from their mistakes. Take this as a warning.”

“Indeed, from what happened today, it seems that Palace Head Dan Chi is correct in vigorously training our martial prowess. If our Regal Pill Palace was more prosperous in martial prowess, we would not have suffered such heavy losses today.”

“Yes, a random prodigy from a first ranked sect could oppress our entire sect to the death. Thinking about it is so disheartening!”

“Don’t be dismayed, everyone. Didn’t that mysterious senior say that boy is one of the ten great disciples? Among the younger generation of the Ninesuns Sky Sect, he ranks amongst the top. We don’t have to belittle ourselves. The first ranked sects are have abundant resources and numerous prodigies. Our Regal Pill Palace will learn from our shame and work harder to reach the top,” Palace Head Dan Chi encouraged, upon seeing everyone’s low spirits.

Beside him, Elder Yun Nie also nodded, “Just now, that mysterious senior was very kind to our Regal Pill Palace, and was also an unexpected discovery.”

Dan Chi gestured, “Everyone, dismissed. Let’s check on the condition of Elder Hu and Elder Lian Cheng’s injuries.”

The sudden arrival of this mishap created a strange sense of urgency in every member of the Regal Pill Palace. Cao Jin’s unannounced presence caused them to recognize the cruelty of the the martial world. Even a fourth ranked sect like them could be easily extinguished with the flick of a finger by a higher power. When they thought about this, everyone in the Regal Pill Palace felt an even more pressing need to diligently train. A genius disciple of a first ranked sect had taught them what a gap in power truly meant. Compared to a genius from a first ranked sect, they realized that they were but frogs trapped at the bottom of a well.